Dr. Swerdloff, the director of the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center’s Male Contraceptive Clinical Trials Center, said the development of a male contraceptive has the power to change men’s view of their health and empower their reproductive decisions.

“Just as women gained greater control over their reproductive choices and their health with the advent of the birth control pill, a male contraceptive would get men more involved in their personal health care and would give them greater reproductive choices,” he said in a statement.

To this end, the institute is seeking 60 men ages 18 to 50 to test out a combination of hormone gels that will be applied to their arms and abdomens to see how they affect sperm count. The idea is that this hormonal gel will cut sperm count to levels where conception is not possible. According to researchers, discontinued use will result in the men returning to their normal sperm production.

Named after Dr. Christina Wang, one of the leading researchers involved, the test period is being called the “Wang male contraceptive trial.” If you giggle about it, we’re going to think less of you. This is very serious stuff, people.

OK, fine. Giggle. Then, if you’re a man, consider signing up for the study.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know by now what the tea party movement is all about. If you have been living under a rock, let us explain: it’s a bunch of libertarians and conservatives getting together freaking out about stimulus packages and bailouts and generally supporting a more limited government, balanced budgets, and free markets.

“Politicizing sex or sex for causes seems to cheapen the act,” said Brooks Bayne, local Independent and active participant in the tea party movement. He didn’t specify whether he was referring to the act of sex or the tea party movement as being cheapened, though he did add that “having sex with someone who shares your political views is hot.”

A call to the club to inquire how much money was raised for the cause went unanswered.

Remember American Wife, the book by Curtis Sittenfeld, about an American first lady who is wife to a conservative warhawk and who stands beside him despite how much she disagrees with him on issues? Probably not because, well, who reads anymore?

Anyway, it was said to be loosely based on Laura Bush. In the book, the fictional first lady supports abortion. We bring this up because Laura Bush joined Larry King last week on his show Larry King Live and came out publicly about her stance on both abortion and gay marriage.

She told King that she understands “what George thinks and what other people think about marriage being between a man and a woman,” but she believes that “when couples are committed to each other and love each other that they ought to have, I think, the same sort of rights that everyone has.”

She also still believes that abortion should remain legal “for medical reasons, and other reasons.”

Some have criticized the former first lady for only making these statements only now that she has a book to promote. Her autobiography, Spoken from the Heart, was released earlier this month.

As you know, Facebook and our editrix have a pretty turbulent relationship, mostly relating to Facebook’s strong dislike for her penchant to overshare slutty images of herself.

You can imagine how amused we were then when we saw Dan Zarrella’s data regarding what users are sharing on the social network.

Zarrella applied two linguistic algorithms (the same ones used on the popular site TweetPsych that tell you what your content is mostly about on Twitter) and he found, based on the articles in his dataset, that more articles are shared with sexual references in their titles.

“Additionally,” the award-winning social media and viral marketing scientist notes, “positivity is more shared than negativity.”

So if you want your stuff shared on Facebook, he suggests: try to write positively about sex!

Why surf Craigslist’s text ads when you can be amused by a mini web series? Introducing your favorite new productivity killer: Craigslist TV, a new series that follows Craigslist users as they use the site to make things happen.

Any Los Angeles user that has checked out the classifieds site in the past couple of months has noticed the opt-in box at the bottom of the ad-submit form:

The first time our editrix saw it, we overheard her moan, “God, that’s so L.A. You can’t even try to arrange a nooner without an eight man film crew…” Ain’t that the truth?

To our knowledge, she has not participated in any episodes.

This first season has 14 episodes, released weekly via YouTube. Each webisode is filmed and directed by Drew Brown of Brownstone Entertainment, of Project Runway, This American Life and Top Chef fame. Watch! It’s super lolsy.

A condo in Hef’s original Playboy Mansion is up for grabs in Chicago! The unit includes three bedrooms, three and a half baths, a private patio and two-car attached garage spaces! This is the only unit at the mansion that leads directly to the gardens.

Asking price? $2,900,000. Or you can just gawk:

Ah, 1340 North State Parkway #1S, Chicago, IL 60611. Has a nice ring to it. Check out the original listing.

We’re all about men and women having the freedom to do what they desire with their lives and praised when they make great achievements. The field is more even today than it was fifty years ago, but there are still several issues that make our feminism come out all claws and teeth.

And then there are things that just bug us, like this piece on Ms. about gender politics on Iron Man 2. The post summarizes the gender lessons imparted by the film, which we paraphrase here:

Men don’t cry, they scream. They like power tools, technology, and weapons, not talking. Men are big wheels and lone gunmen. Men need to leave a legacy and build a better future and the best way to do this is via weapons, wealth and womanizing. Men’s sexism is funny and endearing. Men are so fabulous at business, they can successfully privatize world peace. Real men think the liberal agenda is boring. Men will always need to be in the theater of war and might as well turn their bodies into weapons.

Women are for dancing, either around poles or on stage as props. They should always be scantily clad, wear make-up well, balance on very high-heels and generally perform femininity to the delight of the male audience. Women are objects whose most important asset is their bodies, which are weak. Women are petty and jealous but also ready to be walked on.

OK, look. The movie wasn’t a shining example of girl power, but look at anything long enough and you will find something wrong with it. We here at Sex and the 405 believe that a lot more could be accomplished if people took the time to create better options instead of tearing apart those that exist. At least make mention of films that, to the author, better illustrate the message of gender equality?

It’s so easy to rip something apart. Building is a whole other thing altogether.

“Support single moms,” say the shirts bearing a picture of a woman hanging on a pole. Oh, those poor, poor strippers. They have to get naked to support their kids because that’s their only real option.

What if we told you that these women were supporting your kids?

Check this out: Illusions Gentleman’s Club in Long Island is charging five dollars at the door. This money isn’t for the club or the girls — it’s to help maintain school programs that are in danger of being cut due to lack of funding.

They’re calling it the “pole tax” but that’s not all — many of the strippers involved plan to donate some of the tips they make onstage.

This isn’t the first time a strip club has done something like this. In the last two years, a club in Texas has imposed a pole tax and managed to raise over $13 million to fund sexual assault prevention programs.

So next time you look down on a woman in the skin biz, consider this: what have you done lately to help out around the city?

Love hurts, this we know. But so does sex! The Daily Mail has some lolsy stats on the sorts of injuries fearless Brits suffer on a regular basis doing what we do best: the nasty.

The most common complaints are pulled muscles, back injuries, carpet burns, sprained necks and — interestingly — bent back fingers. Even more interesting is that the results come from a poll of 1,000 commissioned by a phone-recycling business Envirofone.

“Sex is a risky business these days,” a spokesperson told the Mail. “There are numerous hazards in and around the home which can inflict severe injuries if people aren’t careful.”

It is unclear what their interest is in doing this, but who cares? We all love stats about sex. Here’s a cool breakdown:

According to the poll, five percent of the surveyed took time off work due to sex-related injuries and two percent suffered broken bones! They also found that one-third of Britons being surveyed had suffered an ache or strain before, during, or closely after sex — and nearly half of these said they only realized their injury the following morning because they’d been too hot at the moment to notice!

Their fave places to do it? The staits, car, kitchen table and office supply closet, with almost four in 10 breaking something during sex (cost of damage? Around $228). Bed frames, wine or pint glasses and picture frames were the most common casualties of passion.

Ten percent of those surveyed said they or their partner had fallen off the bed during sex and one in 50 said they had fallen off a washing machine.

Those Brits sure know how to get it on. It almost makes us feel boring in comparison. How do you think America ranks? Maybe we should ask these guys to do a study.

So everyone’s got their panties in a bunch about the Miss USA pageant because they have released photos of the contestants and oh noes! all the girls look like Victoria’s Secret angels. Evidently the pageant is whoring out the poor things in order to get some hype going and score better ratings with this rather controversial turn!

Oh, please. Let’s go back some 60 years, shall we? The year is 1950 and Miss USA doesn’t exist yet. Yolande Betbeze has won the crown of Miss America, which is sponsored by Catalina, a swimsuit company. The conservative Betbeze, who entered as Miss Alabama for a chance at a scholarship, refused to wear a swimsuit after she won Miss America, causing Catalina to withdraw their sponsorship and, eventually, launch the rival competition known as Miss USA.

So, Miss USA was conceived by a swimsuit company because a girl was unwilling to strip down for photo ops. Now, 60 years later, the girls are in lingerie, which isn’t a whole lot different. And everyone is surprised because… ?

Ah, yes. Miss California, Carrie Prejean! Everyone flipped major Mugatu last year after risqué photos of her began surfacing around the web. And then there was something about a sex tape. But, look, it’s more complex than that. Prejean and Miss USA had been at odds for some time before this happened. The pageant didn’t agree with Prejean skipping scheduled events and then attending “unsanctioned” speaking gigs with conservatives to discuss her stance against gay marriage, there was some matter of a surgery and a unnecessary disclosure, a lot back and forth spin and so on.

The whole thing was a mess and to simplify the issue into a cry of outrage because Miss USA is “being hypocritical” because now its contestants are wearing lingerie, especially when the pageant was founded by a swimsuit company, is populist nonsense.

Here’s the deal: Miss USA isn’t about discovering your inner beauty. Is about selling yourself off to slavery for a year to prove beauty you already have. From the moment you enter the pageant, ALL UR BASE R BELON 2 THEMZ. Dig? You can’t do anything they don’t like. Can’t skip events they want you to attend or attend events without their consent. Can’t make any sort of political statement without their approval. Definitely can’t take naughty pictures unless they ask for them — can’t refuse once they do. Got it? Good! Glad we could help.

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That Steam allows the objectification and sexualization of female characters in a variety of its games but refuses to accept a game about actually engaging with women in a more interactive fashion is astonishingly backward.

That the site doesn’t take measures to protect user content and has shown incompetence or negligence in regard to user privacy, all the while prohibiting victims from warning others about predatory behavior creates an environment where it is nearly impossible for members of the community to take care of themselves and one another. By enabling FetLife to continue espousing a code of silence, allowing the spinning self-created security issues as “attacks,” and not pointing out how disingenuous FetLife statements about safety are, we are allowing our community to become a breeding ground for exploitation.

Should people who benefit (parents, siblings, children, roommates!) from the earnings of “commercial sex acts” (any sexual conduct connected to the giving or receiving of something of value) be charged with human trafficking? Should someone who creates obscene material that is deemed “deviant” be charged as with human trafficking? Should someone who profits from obscene materials be charged with human trafficking? Should people transporting obscene materials be charged with human trafficking? Should a person who engages in sex with someone claiming to be above the age of consent or furnishing a fake ID to this effect be charged with human trafficking? What if I told you the sentences for that kind of conviction were eight, 14 or 20 years in prison, a fine not to exceed $500,000, and life as a registered sex offender?

If you are a woman, you might be given a chance to prove yourself in this community. Since there is no standard definition of what a “geek” is and it will vary from one judge to the next anyway, chances of failing are high (cake and grief counseling will be available after the conclusion of the test!). If you somehow manage to succeed, you’ll be tested again and again by anyone who encounters you until you manage to establish yourself like, say, Felicia Day. But even then, you’ll be questioned. As a woman, your whole existence within the geek community will be nothing but a series of tests — if you’re lucky. If you aren’t lucky, you’ll be harassed and threatened and those within the culture will tacitly agree that you deserve it.

Zak’s original field, it turns out, is economics, a far cry from the hearts and teddy bears we imagine when we consider his nickname. But after performing experiments on generosity, Zak stumbled on the importance of trust in interactions, which led him, rather inevitably, to research about oxytocin. Oxytocin, you might remember, is a hormone that has been linked previously to bonding — between mothers and children primarily, but also between partners. What Zak has done is take the research a step further, arguing in his recent book, The Moral Molecule, that oxytocin plays a role in determining whether we are good or evil.

Let’s talk about the strippers. Whether they like to be half-naked or not, whether they enjoy turning you on or not, there’s one thing they all have in common: they’re working. Whether you think that taking one’s clothes off for money is a great choice of career is really beside the point (is it a possibility for you to make $500 per hour at your job without a law degree? Just asking). These women are providing fantasy, yes, but that is their job. And as a patron of the establishment where they work, you need to treat them like you would anyone else who provides a service to you.

About

Sex and the 405 is what your newspaper would look like if it had a sex section.

Here you’ll find news about the latest research being conducted to figure out what drives desire, passion, and other sex habits; reviews of sex toys, porn and other sexy things; coverage of the latest sex-related news that have our mainstream media's panties up in a bunch; human interest pieces about sex and desire; interviews with people who love sex, or hate sex, or work in sex, or work to enable you to have better sex; opinion pieces that relate to sex and society; and the sex-related side of celebrity gossip. More...